Mysteries and Mutual Killing
by Unironicdokis
Summary: For something that was right up Mukuro Ikusaba's alley, this was not exactly the kind of mystery solving that she looked forward to doing. Sure her classmates were—at least overall—rather nice, and the prospect of reuniting with her twin sister was something she had been anticipating, but that only made her feel worse about her predicament. Talentswap AU, main ship is naekusaba
1. Prologue

Here it is finally, my talentswap AU. ~5000 words. Before we start I would like to say that this is pretty much going to be a full story, & its gonna be pretty long.  
Beware: Lots of dangan ronpa spoilers, particularly pertaining to my choice of protagonist. The victims and culprits will not be the same as in DR. Even if the ship is tagged, its probably going to be at most just heavily implied & none of them are very prominent until later. Most prominent of them will be mukuro/naegi or mukuro/kirigiri, along with a little leosaya, implied ishimondo, and a few other surprises. Hope you enjoy!

disclaimer: I own nothing, just this writing.

—  
The building stood before me, taller and much more intimidating than I had imagined. The sun, climbing high in the sky as the day moved onward, caused it to cast a dark shadow over me as I looked upward. Kibougamine Academy, or as it more commonly known as, Hope's Peak… It was said that attending was a near guarantee for success in life. Students do not apply, they are recruited. Only the best of the best have the chance attend.

In a place like this, there had to be at least a few good mysteries worth solving. Naturally, as a good detective should, I had made sure to do plenty of research beforehand… The forums on the school website had all but ensured me that my class was full of all sorts of fascinating characters. A Super High School Level Hall Monitor rumored to be a pushover? A swimmer who does not attend a single practice? A Super High School Level Good Luck who has marks more outstanding than the majority of these supposed gifted students? A gambler who's luck knows no bounds? What sort of secrets shall I uncover at my stay here?

Well, at the very least, I knew I had one mystery worth uncovering. If truth be told, I had always been curious about my baby sister, but to think that she had grown up to become a Super High School Level Idol was almost unfathomable. It had seemed too farfetched to be the truth, but she had seemed so happy when she wrote to me. She had sounded extremely excited to meet me, to go to school together. Of course, I did my usual poking around. The truth was never hidden from me for long, and it was seemingly the truth. Junko Enoshima was my younger twin sister.

I did not want to show it, but I was nervous. I was not used to caring so much about what others thought of me. It never seemed important before, but this was my sister after all, my family. I felt the unfamiliar desire to gain her approval. What would she think of me? Would she be happy to have me as a big sister? Or would I be a disappointment?

Well, the only way to find out would be to press forward. New freshman were supposed to gather in the entrance hall at 8. I was a little early, but I decided it would be better to wait there than out here. I opened the large, intimidating double doors to the large, intimidating school, and took my first steps inside as I headed toward the entrance hall. I took my first step into the empty room and then…  
…Everything went black.

I woke up to the sight of an unfamiliar classroom. It was dimly lit, but I could make out the steel plates bolted to the walls. Before confusion could fully set in, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a note. I picked it up, taking note of the hastily scribbled handwriting.

"Welcome, bastards, to your new life at Hope's Peak Academy! Meet in the entrance hall at 8:00 for a welcoming ceremony! Don't be late!"  
I checked the clock to find that it was already five after 8. I figured I better head over to the entrance hall.

Outside the empty classroom, the corridors were dimly lit, giving them an ominous feel. It was silent except for for the sound of my footsteps against the tile floor. I walked slowly and cautiously, for fear of getting lost, but my tardiness did not escape me.

When I opened the door to the entrance hall, I was greeted by the faces of confused and disgruntled students. My curiosity had once again arisen, what was going on?

The boy nearest to the door let out a relieved sigh, "Oh! Looks like that must be everyone then! So then… That makes 16 of us in total." He was short with messy brown hair and an ahoge, and he was dressed in a white uniform.

"Did you wake up in an empty classroom, too?" asked a tan girl with a high ponytail and athletic wear.

The tall blonde next to her sneered. "Of course, we all did."

The first boy shook his head, obviously wanting to avoid any conflict. "Never mind that. Well…" He looked around. "I think since you're late introductions must be in order." He held out his hand with a smile that's warmth reached his light green eyes, and was so genial it was almost comforting. "I'm Makoto Naegi, Super High School Level Hall Monitor. Pleased to meet you!"

I took his hand tentatively, nodding curtly. "Mukuro Ikusaba. Super High School Level Detective."

"Neat! Well, I'd better give everyone else an opportunity to introduce themselves as well." And just like that, he was gone, shortly replaced by a boy with flaming red hair.  
"Hey! The name's Leon Kuwata! Nice to meetcha."

"Wait, so you're that prodigy swimmer everyone's been talking about?" I realized that my incredulous tone probably sounded rude, but his appearance had me taken aback. At first glance he hardly seemed to be the typical athletic swimmer. He was slim, with spiked hair and a goatee, wore a white jacket and shirt, and had many piercings. He seemed a bit put off by my response, as predicted.

"Did you expect some revved up jock? Nah man, I hate swimming. That's why I came here, so I could have a fresh start."

I introduced myself and then listened absentmindedly to him while he talked about his dream of becoming a musician when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned to face a pretty girl with long blue hair, decorated with a pink bow.

"Kuwata-kun, give the girl a break, she just got here. Don't tell me you've already confessed that you hate swimming! You only just met her!" She giggled. "Pleased to meet you! I'm Sayaka Maizono!" Something about her face seemed oddly familiar….  
"I've seen you before!" My calm composure was broken as the realization hit me. I had definitely seen here before. The long blue hair, the wide, earnest bright eyes, the delicate ivory skin. "You're all over the magazine covers! That would make you… Super High School Level Fashion Girl?"

She laughed once more. "Guilty!"

I was suddenly very self conscious of my own appearance, something I usually paid little mind to. But in comparison to her, I did feel a bit like a shrinking violet.

I quickly moved onto the next student, a boy in a green hoodie with short black hair. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mukuro Ikusaba! My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru. You are the super high school level detective, are you not?" He spoke in an intense manner, for a moment I was almost overwhelmed.

"That would be me." I racked my brain to see if that name rang any bells. "And you are… Super High School Level Good Luck?"

He bristled. I seemed to have struck a nerve with him. "Yes, I am the Super High School Level Good Luck. But I will have you know, Ikusaba-san, that i fully intend to prove that I deserve a place at this school along with all the other talented students! It is shameful having to rely on such a thing as good luck." I wondered if it was because he was annoyed or if his eyebrows were perpetually fixated into that intimidating scowl.

"Well, Ishimaru-" before i could get in a word, i was interrupted by a booming voice.

"Ishimaru? As in Kiyotaka Ishimaru?" A tall, muscular boy in a white tank and a jean vest came forward, sporting the most ridiculous haircut that i had ever seen. If truth be told, it held more of a resemblance to corn than to actual hair, since it was bleached on top and styled way too far in front of his face. "Mondo Oowada, Super High School Level Fighter." His attention was more on Ishimaru than myself although I must say I hardly minded. I wasn't particularly keen on diverting his attention anyways.

At once, Ishimaru became rather flustered. "That sounds familiar, but I-"

Mondo laughed, slapping him on the back, probably rather hard since it seemed to catch Ishimaru off his guard. "What, ya don't remember me? Middle school? You're a sixer ain't ya? From Sixer Middle School, class two?"

Realization seemed to dawn over the other boy, and he suddenly seemed very embarrassed. "Yes, of course! How could I have possibly let it slip my mind."

Oowada turned to face me again, for once acknowledging my presence. "Ya should'a seen this kid! He had a competitive edge strong enough to rival mine!"

That would explain Ishimaru's earlier behavior quite a bit…

Oowada sighed, obviously disappointed about something. I was immediately on edge. I had a feeling that this guy was somebody I did not want to let down. "Aye… It's a shame. You're smaller than I remember Ishi. Looks like neither of ya are fit to be my sparring partner."

Thankfully I was saved from having to respond by a voice that came from behind. "If you are in need of a sparring partner, perhaps I can be of assistance?"

I turned to face the voice, and to my surprise, it was a slender girl with long silver hair, dressed all in black. Her expression, completely devoid of emotion, was familiar to me. It was the same expression I always wore on my own face. One learns to master it when dealing with secrets.

Before anyone could reply, she continued. "I know what you are thinking, but if I were you I would not hasty make judgements based solely on appearance." She turned to leave the conversation almost as suddenly as she had entered it. As she walked away, she said, in a voice quiet yet full of authority, "Kyouko Kirigiri, Super High School Level Soldier, looking forward to it."

I took a liking to her immediately.

A voice, male from the sound of it, and in a rather haughty tone, punctured the silence. "Is this going to take much longer, or are you planning to keep me waiting like this all morning?" It was the tall blonde in square specs to my right. His arms were crossed, his posture upright and defiant, his gaze scathing. He wore a button up shirt and tie under his black hoodie. Everything about him, from his broad shoulders to his cross expression to the large headphones around his neck, read "disdain."

I tried my best to remain polite. "My apologies if I have kept you waiting, but there are quite a lot of people in here to meet."

"Hmph." He seemed disgruntled. I waited from him continue, but he said nothing.  
"Excuse me? I'm afraid I-"

"You are excused."

I was beginning to get fed up with this guy. "I don't believe I caught your name." My tone wa a little more forceful than was usually necessary.

"Please bore someone else with your questions." He began to take his leave. "I'm done here. Byakuya Togami. Super High School Level Programmer."

A petite girl with short hair approached me. She spoke to me in a feeble voice, so low that it was practically inaudible.

"Sorry, I didnt catch that?"

"Oh! I'm sorry… I said that it's nice to meet you. My name is Chihiro Fujisaki." She looked rather ashamed, I felt a little sorry for her.

Now that was a name that rang a bell. "Fujisaki? So that means you're the Super High School Level Scion? Heir to the entire Fujisaki Conglomerate?" This meek little girl was to inherit that economic superpower?

"I'm sorry… I'm not exactly what you were expecting, where you?" She looked close to tears.

"No, no, not at all! I'm just a little surprised. I expected the heir to the Fujisaki conglomerate to be more like Super High School Level Prick over there." I nodded in Togami's direction.

She giggled. Practically everything about her was adorable, in her pretty, albeit expensive-looking yellow dress and white cardigan. It was almost sickeningly sweet. "Thank goodness! I thought perhaps that you didn't like me!"

It had been quite some time since I had heard anything about the Fujisaki family. I knew they had a son, but I didn't remember anything about a daughter. The forums had very little information on Chihiro Fujisaki. She was rumored to be very brilliant, and to have accumulated a fortune of her own, independent from her family company. However, apart from that, she mostly kept out of the public eye.

While she was very nice, I parted ways in order to finish introductions. All these over-the-top personalities were more than a little overwhelming.

A reserved-looking girl in braids, a schoolgirl uniform, and large, round glasses stuttered her introduction. "I'm T-touko Fukawa… Super High School Level Doujin Artist… not that you'll even bother to remember…"

"Well, that's pretty presumptuous of you, don't you think?"

My response seemed to have caught her off guard. "Th-that's not what I… Why are you asking me this? Is this an attack? Its because I'm ugly, isn't it? Not like a girl like you would have much room to talk…" She grit her teeth as she glared at me angrily.

I made a mental note about her possible persecution complex, probably a good thing for me to want to remember. I quickly attempted to detach myself from her presence.

In my haste I accidentally bumped into a large boy with glasses, short brown hair, and a pointy ahoge. "Pardon me, Ikusaba Mukuro-dono. Allow me to introduce myself! Hifumi Yamada, Super High School Level Literary Boy. You would do well to remember it."  
I quirked an eyebrow, slightly amused.

"Hmm…" He seemed to be scrutinizing me. "What sort of character are you, Miss Mukuro Ikusaba?… Black hair, impassive, humble appearance. You seem like the strong silent type!" He pointed a finger at me triumphantly. "A character as such would only feel at home in a noir murder mystery!"

I allowed myself a small chuckle. "Well, you aren't wrong." He grinned, obviously pleased with himself.

"Sakura Oogami, Super High School Level Gang Leader." A tall, muscular girl with long white hair shook what was supposed to be my hand but felt more like my entire arm. At first glance she was intimidating, what with the scar across her face and large leather coat, but she was actually very calm and reserved. I was pleasantly surprised.

The girl beside her was a stark contrast, Smiling, tan, athletic in both build and attire, and very pretty, with a pony tail that practically defied gravity. "Aoi Asahina, Super High School Level All Star!" It would not have been difficult to guess. Simply put, she was quite a ball of energy.

"Hehe… What was your name again? Must've slipped my mind." I smiled patiently as I responded. She frowned and mutterred something quietly to herself, apparently deep in thought. I decided to leave her to whatever she was doing and that I'd better be on my way.

I recognized the pair of them from my research on the academy forums. What had puzzled me was why the school would recruit an outlaw biker, even the best one in the country. In the end I figured the school must have its reasons and decided not to dwell on it further.

Asahina on the other hand was a figure growing in popularity in the sports crowd, it was not a surprise that she was here. She and Kuwata seemed to be clumped together a lot and labeled "rising stars". While Leon Kuwata was the prodigy swimmer, Aoi Asahina was famous for being dedicated as well as multi-talented. Their good looks didn't hurt either, what with their rising popularity. Asahina, after years of jumping from sport to sport, finally settled on softball, earning her the title "Super High School Level All Star". While everyone was anticipating for Kuwata to eventually compete in the Olympics (something that seemed more and more like a dwindling possibility after my conversation with him), Asahina was already being scouted for the big leagues.

My train of thought was interrupted by a female voice. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. My eyes fell upon a pale girl with red eyes, long black hair, and wearing and elegant, flowy, loose dress. She looked just as how one would picture a gypsy. "Greetings, Mukuro Ikusaba. My name is Celestia Ludenberg, but you may call me Celes." Her smile, while on the surface appeared perfectly normal, had a strange eerie feel to it.

"Pleased to meet you." I decided not to address the fact that she was clearly Japanese, despite her foreign name. That would be a question for later.

"The pleasure is all mine. I am the Super High School Level Fortune Teller, as you probably already guessed. Would you care to know your fortune, Miss Ikusaba? I see quite interesting things in your future." She giggled. It was positively unnerving.  
Next was an boy with dreads that stuck out in practically every direction, and judging by his face and barest trace of stubble on his chin, he was probably much older than the other students. His black coat hung loosely over his shoulders, and was embroidered in great detail. His entire existence looked as if it disobeyed the laws of physics. "Hey! I'm Hagakure. Just Hagakure though, 'right? Good ta meet you, Ikusaba-chi! Super High School Level Gambler, that's me!" He grinned hugely.

He was another familiar name. Yasuhiro Hagakure, high school student who was known for robbing thousands, even millions away from unlucky gamblers in a single night. He was quite infamous in the underworld. One of the more ridiculous rumors claimed he'd never lost a single bid. The strategy he used to leave everyone in the dust was a topic discussed at length within the forums. No matter how much discussion was put into it, nobody could figure it out.

He was truly a curious case for me. One of the few students who had already managed to spark my interest. Oh, the questions in store… "Super High School Level Gambler, is that even legal?"

He laughed. It was loud and boisterous. He was absolutely jovial. "Not anymore, dude! I'm twenty! Not that it even stopped me much before, anyways."  
A twenty year old, a freshman in high school?

"Aye, well don't say it like that… The way I see it, this school is my chance to start over, 'right?"

I hadn't realized that I had spoken my thoughts out loud. Before I could stop myself, I flushed a light shade of pink, thoroughly embarrassed. I muttered a quiet apology. He seemed hardly phased by my words or embarrassment. I excused myself to go, trying desperately to regain my composure.

I heard a girls voice behind me. An unfamiliar voice. The sixteenth voice. The last student I was yet to meet. "So, sis, what on earth took you so long?"  
"Junko? Junko Enoshima?"

She laughed, the sound was pleasant and melodious. She was absolutely enchanting. "That's right! And you're my big sis, Mukuro Ikusaba! Don't tell me that I'm mistaken, that'd be embarrassing."

Somehow she managed to be simultaneously intimidating and yet completely charming. Her appearance seemed to be taken straight from the cover of a magazine: pink hair, wide blue eyes, a white, even smile, porcelain skin. She was just the ideal Super High School Level Idol.

Before I knew it, I was suddenly crushed in a tight hug. "I've always wanted a big sister! It's so good to finally meet you!"

I smiled awkwardly as I tried to return the hug, "It's nice to finally meet you as well, it has been quite some time." I'd never been good at handling affection, not that I received much in the first place.

A high pitched noise rang throughout the room. "Mic test, Mic test."  
Looking around the entrance hall I could see the same anxious and perplexed look on everybody's faces.

"What's going on?" asked Enoshima, her tone hushed. I shook my head in response, unsure myself.

The voice came again, only now we could detect that the source was from the speakers set up in the corners of the hall. "There is an assembly in the gym. Everybody head there straight away!"

It did not take long for the sixteen of us to congregate in the gym. We all waited anxiously, looking around and some of us speaking in hushed whispers about our suspicions.

We were all beginning to get rather antsy and waiting for something, anything, to happen when at last… something sprang out from behind the podium. Black and white, & rather small, it would have been completely comical under normal circumstances.

"A toy bear?" Naegi asked the question that surely was on everyone's mind. His confusion and anxiety was apparent on his face.

"I'm not a toy! I'm Monobear, your new headmaster!" The voice came from the thing standing at the podium, whatever it was. Ridiculous & almost amusing, as if from a cartoon.

Several of the students gasped, "The stuffed toy talks?" cried Yamada. However, some students, like Togami and Kirigiri, remained completely impassive.

"I told you, I'm not a toy! Listen up you bastards! This school is way too boring, we're doing things a little differently." It's single red eye flashed dangerously.

"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" Kirigiri's voice, cold and intimidating, broke through the silence.

"I told you, I'm Monokuma! I'm the headmaster of this school, and I have a very important announcement. Starting this semester, you guys are going to be spending the rest of your lives here."

What? My thoughts were echoed aloud by several people in the room. Looking around, I could see the anxious expressions of nearly everyone.

"Ahaha, good one!" Hagakure laughed, but the sound wasn't convincing.

It spoke in an irritated tone. "Unless of course, you want to graduate."

"G-graduate?" next voice to speak up was Fukawa's nervous stutter.

"Yes! In order to graduate, you bastards have to kill someone!"

Dead silence. At last, Fujisaki asked in a quiet, feeble voice, "Kill each other? But—"

"Cutting, stabbing, smashing, burning, poisoning, choking, doesn't matter how! All that matters is that in order to leave this place, that's what you have to do! As long as you don't get caught of course." Monokuma was positively gushing with excitement. It was nauseating.

"Ey, what the fuck do ya think you're playing at? Cut the crap with this sick joke!" Oowada clenched his fists, his jaw set in anger.

"Joke? Are you sure you aren't referring to your hair?" Monobear asked, in such an innocent tone that would have been laughable under different circumstances. Oowada flushed bright red in embarrassment and frustration. But as his hulking figure approached Monobear, his rage was legitimately terrifying. No doubt I was right in assuming he was not someone to cross.

"Listen here, you—"

He was cut off by Naegi, who had, either bravely or foolishly, stepped up and was barring the way between Monobear and the fighter with a panicked look on his face. "Oowada-kun, please! Let's not overreact! We must properly assess the situation before we do anything reckless!" It occurred to me then just how much smaller Naegi was than Oowada.

Unfortunately for Naegi, Mondo seemed far from calm. Rather than mellowing out, his attention simply averted from Monobear to the hall monitor, "you tryna tell me what to do kid?" He practically screamed in his face.

Naegi waved his arms frantically in front of him. "No, that's not what I—"

Before anyone realized exactly what had happened, Oowada punched Naegi so hard he fell to the ground, clearly knocked out.

"At least it was a short trip to the ground," I heard Enoshima say quietly, snickering. I considered chastising her, but in the end, I decided to let it be.  
"Naegi-kun!" Maizono rushed to his side.

"What the hell is your problem?" asked Asahina indignantly, glaring at Oowada.

Before he could respond, Monobear's laugh rang throughout the hall. "Upu! Upupupupupupupupupupu! How exciting! Look, of you bastards are really so resigned to spending the rest of your lives here, then why don't you just kill somebody?"

"Forget it! Nobody here is killing anyone!" Asahina stood defiantly before the small bear.

He stopped laughing. "Is that so? Well, we'll see, won't we?" His red eye flashed dangerously once more. "Listen, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, assembly's nearly over! I've provided you all with special electronic ID cards just for you. On them you'll find all the rules and regulations, make sure to read them carefully. Breaking a school rule can lead to the need for drastic measures to enforce school policy." He raised his paw, unveiling three sharp claws. "And we wouldn't want that, would we?" He laughed once more, and with that, he jumped back behind the podium and was gone.

For a painfully long moment, there was nothing but silence. At last, it was broken by Maizono, her voice tremulous. "S-so what now?"

For a minute, no one said a word. Then, "Isn't it obvious? We wait for someone to kill somebody." The answer, cold and matter-of-fact, came from none other than Byakuya Togami.

The chilling words sent a shiver up my spine.

"How can you say that?" Asahina's anxious voice was loud in the fearful silence.

"We cannot simply rule out the possibility, no matter how much we may wish too," stated Kirigiri, calm and rational.

"This is awful, how are we ever going to escape this place?" said Fujisaki, her voice cracking as if she where near the brink of tears.

"Don't worry Fujisaki-chan, I'm sure the cops are out searching for us," said Maizono in an attempt to comfort her.

Togami scoffed. "You're seriously going to rely on the cops?"

"I-I'm sorry, I…" Fujisaki stuttered.

"Hey, leave the kid alone!" Oowada snapped, his temper firing up again. "Want me to teach you a lesson?"

Togami rolled his eyes. "Yes, exercise more pointless violence. That's sure to be extremely productive."

"Oowada-kun, relax. Fujisaki-san is fine, and Togami-kun is right. We don't need any more unreasonable violence." For being a fairly small girl, Kirigiri's presence commanded a lot of authority.

Togami turned away, heading towards the exit. "I've heard enough. You people are making my head hurt and my ears want to bleed, it positively boggles the mind." He left without another word.

I could see that Oowada and Asahina were seething. Oogami put a warning hand on her shoulder. "Just let him be for now." Asahina grit her teeth in frustration, but relented nonetheless.

Kuwata piped up. "Uh, guys? I'm skimming through the rules, and what do you think number 5 means? 'If he is not betrayed by his classmates'?"

"I should think that it means that the culprit cannot let anyone else find out about the murder." Celes answered so casually, it felt out of place associated with such a dark topic.

"Yeah but… They—whoever 'they' even is—don't seriously expect us to kill each other, right? Surely nobody here is that desperate… right?"

"Even if it isn't meant to be serious, there could be someone stupid enough to believe it." Celestia's words were harsh, but we all knew it was the uncomfortable truth. Silence. I decided I would be the one first one to break it.

"Well then, what do you suppose we should do?"

Her response was unnaturally cheerful. "Why adapt of course!" She smiled. "I'm certain we can manage to live together without any issues, I do hate it when I predict misfortune." She sighed, her positive attitude changing almost immediately.

Yamada sighed as well, saying sullenly, "I always felt that I was written into the wrong story. Now it turns out I've been plopped right into the setting right out of a murder mystery novel, but it is not nearly as exciting and adventurous as I had hoped."

"Be quiet! This isn't one of your romance novels, this is real," Fukawa snapped. She clapped her hands over her ears, shaking her head, eyes closed, muttering to herself. "This isn't happening… This isn't happening… This isn't happening.. Why me…"

"Fukawa-san, there's no need to be like that. I realize that our situation may not be ideal, but arguing—" Maizono was cut off by Fukawa's shrill hysterics.

"No shit! I don't need an airhead like you giving me painfully obvious advice."

Surprisingly, it was not Maizono but Kuwata whose temper had been ignited like a fuse. "Hey, what's the idea? Say that to her again, I dare you."

"Enough." Kirigiri's voice, usually quiet, was heard loud and clear throughout the entire gym. It had a note of finality to it that heavily implied not to challenge her. "All this arguing is pointless."

"'Right… So then what are we gonna do with Naegi-chi?" asked Hagakure.

"Yeah, I mean we can't exactly just leave him laying here, can we?" inquired my sister from where she stood beside me, hands on her hips.

I thought it over. "I think the best thing for us to do would be to just have someone take him to his room. I'm assuming since this is Hopes Peak Academy, we more than likely have rooms. Not to mention, Monobear did say that we would be staying here for… quite some time. Surely there must be proper accommodations."

"I'll take him," said Oowada. Perhaps I imagined it, but I could have sworn I detected a hint of embarrassment coupled with shame in his voice.

Kirigiri shook her head. "You've done enough. I'll take him."

"I'll go with you," I said and she nodded ever so slightly at me in acknowledgement.  
"Also, before you leave, I propose that we should all split up and search the building for a way out. Or at the very least for clues. Does everyone know where the cafeteria is? We should meet there in an hour." Ishimaru checked his watch. "So at 9:30 we meet in the cafeteria to discuss our findings. Also it would probably be best if we stay in groups."  
Everyone murmured in agreement.

My eyes were met by Enoshima's. She put on a brave face—as a celebrity I'm sure she was probably used to that—but I sensed that she was not as ok as was letting on. Our reunion had certainly been very different from what we had anticipated.

—

I want to make this somewhat interactive with my audience, so feedback is nice! You guys get to have input on who mukuro spends free time with, as well as any ships that you can feel are being implied, i will take into account your input on which direction I should go with them. Just a warning there will probably be some untagged ships because I want to keep you guys surprised. I will tag them once the ship is actually introduced into the story.  
Also if I didn't go as much into detail about everything as they did in DR, its because I know you all read the original and know the basics, hope that doesn't bother anyone.  
I'll be updating for chapter 1.1 soon. Also here's the link to it on Ao3


	2. Chapter 1 Part 1

A/N: Alright here it is, part one of the first real chapter in Talentswap. 3700 words~ so fortunately (or unfortunately) it's shorter than the prologue.

I'll be dividing chapters into 5 parts: exploration, free time, motive, investigation, and trial. I'll be sure to inform who the current survivors and the dead are once shenanigans ensue. right now everybody is still alive.

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1.1: The First Unofficial Class Meeting

The walk to the dorms with Kirigiri was a quiet one. I hadn't really expected anything else. I was fairly surprised that she was able to carry Naegi so easily, but also a little impressed. While he was a pretty small person, it was still a lot of weight; however, it seemed that she was able to carry him with hardly an issue at all.

The room was not hard to find. The hall was bright red, and each door was labelled with the name of a student as well as an accompanying picture for good measure. Using his electroID as the room key, we were able to enter the room with his name and lay him on the bed. The room was red like the halls, and sparse in decoration with plain-looking furniture that including a matching wooden desk and drawers. A small monitor was built into the wall and in the corner of the room was another camera. The room's most distinguishable feature was the fact that steel plates were bolted to the wall, just like the ones in the empty classroom.

Naegi made a small noise of discomfort as he was laid on the bed. I decided that I should probably check on him before we assembled in the cafeteria. If he wasn't awake by then I would inform him about it later.

"Thank you for accompanying me," said Kirigiri.

I nodded in response. "Since we're already together, let's just stick together while we investigate, ok?" While I preferred investigating alone most of the time, I wanted to comply with the agreement.

"Actually I'd better be going now-"

"Do you have some sort of private business to attend to? The agreement was to stick together," I said, my tone a little harsher than I had intended.

"It's nothing... Forget about it." It could have been just me, but she seemed on edge. But when I met her eyes, I saw none of that. She was back to her normal impassive demeanor. "Have you seen the locked corridors? There's one right down the hall."

"No, I didn't have the time. I was already late to begin with."

She nodded. "I'll show you." Without a glance back, she walked out of the room, undoubtably expecting me to follow behind.

I kept pace alongside her although her stride was surprisingly quick for high-heeled boots. It was silent except for the click of shoes against the tile floor. The dimly lit halls were not exactly inviting for the prospect of friendly conversation.

She lead me to the end of a short corridor. It was barred from access, but you could see right through the metal screen to the other side.

"There's another another area like this next to the gym, but it leads up the stairwell. Would you like to see that one as well?" she asked.

"I'll take your word for it." I peered through the cage. There was no indication of anything suspicious, but I still ached to know what was behind this barrier. "And there's no way passed?" I turned to look at her. She shook her head. "Do you think either is a way out?"

She shook her head again, pulling out a folded piece of paper. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a map of the school. "As far as I can tell, the only exit is through the entrance hall." She pointed to where it was located on the map.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, slightly curious but mostly suspicious. I tried to read her. Nothing. She was blank, as usual.

She looked away. "It doesn't matter." She didn't falter under my suspicious gaze, so after a moment I turned to scrutinize the map instead.

"You sure it's accurate?"

"As far as I know. It's been reliable thus far, and we don't really have anything else to go on.

I sighed. "Alright."

She pointed to another section on the map. "There are also rooms blocked off by caution tape. Judging from the map and what I saw, they're the infirmary and storage room."

We looked through the cage screen. There was an ominous feeling coming from the restricted area. "Something about this place..." my voice trailed off leaving my sentence unfinished, but she knew what I meant. I could tell.

We remained silent for a while before Kirigiri murmured, "We still have a good thirty minutes left. We should put it to some use. Would you accompany me a little while longer?"

"Lead the way."

Our destination this time was an empty classroom, similar to the one I woke up in. "What are we doing here?" I asked.

"This is the classroom I woke up in. I assume you woke up in an empty classroom as well?"

"Yes..." I answered slowly.

"You are the super high school level detective, are you not, Ikusaba-san?"

I straightened my posture, suddenly acutely aware of her piercing gaze on me, as she were analyzing my every move. "I am," I tried to say it with as much dignity as I could muster.

Her gaze lingered for a moment before she finally turned to pick up a paper sitting in on desk beside her and hold it out to me. "Tell me what you make of this."

I told it gingerly from her, flipping through what I now realized was pamphlet and examined it carefully. "This looks just like the one I received. Handwriting is messy, writer was either hasty or unsteady. Looks like it may be the latter, although I don't know what to make of that..." I looked up at her at her for any sign of a response or a reaction. When I didn't get one, I took this a queue to continue. "This handwriting looks familiar to me although I can't quite place it." This time there was a reaction, if ever so slightly. Her eyes widened in what could only be surprise. I pretended to continue examining the pamphlet, but I could see the new look of suspicion in her her eyes. "You don't recognize this handwriting, do you?" She shook her head. "That's what I thought." I hid my disappointment.

"And the metal plates, what do you think of them?"

I approached the metal-plated walls, cautiously removing my glove and running my fingers along the smooth metal as I examined it. I could feel the coolness of the steel even through my gloves. The bolts were large and fastened very tight. "Steel, most likely they'd be impossible to remove manually. Fairly new. Based on the strategic placing of the plates in each of the rooms, I'm guessing their function is most likely to block off access to windows, for obvious reasons." I felt comfortable, in my element. I moved on, examining the rest of the room as well. "At least one camera in every room, judging by what we've seen. No mobility. Can't know for sure, but we can assume they probably have some sort of microphone system." Kirigiri remained silent. "Kirigiri-san?" I prompted her, turning back to face her again.

She looked deep in thought. "Yes?" My question broke through her reverie.

I hesitated to voice what I wanted to ask, but I went ahead with it. "You don't seem like the type to be keen on relying on other people for help. Why are you asking for mine?"

I waited for an answer but there was none. At last she shrugged and said, "you are the super high school level detective. Your input on our predicament is valuable to me." I said nothing. "My own bride is of little importance when it comes to survival. It is my—and I am assuming everyone else's as well—best interest to make sure that we are as prepared as possible to face our current situation."

"But you still don't trust me." It was a statement, not a question.

"There has not been enough time for me to make a proper decision." She did not meet my eyes.

"So that's a 'no' then."

"I never said that," she snapped, her response much to quick, her gaze averted. She was typically so much more difficult for me to read thank people usually were, but there were still still obvious things I could pick up.

I smirked. I really don't know why I felt the need to press the matter, the last thing I needed was a super soldier as an enemy. But I did. "It was implied. Not to mention reinforced by your response and body language." I resisted the strong temptation to wink.

I glanced over at the clock. It read 9:25. "It's nearly time for the meeting. I'm going to go check on Naegi. I think you should show everyone that map. Although I don't know what you're going to tell them about where you got it, since you wouldn't even tell me." And will that I left the room.

I quickly made my way down the dim corridors and over to the dorms. Since we had left his ID in his room, I had no choice but to just ring and hope he hadn't left already. I was reaching my hand out for the buzzer when...

The door swung wide open, connecting right with my head. I could hear the loud smack right as I felt a sharp pain shoot across my forehead. I lost my balance, falling over.

"Ikuasaba-san!" I heard Naegi's panicked voice through the fog of my pain. I looked up, seeing a very apologetic and anxious-looking Makoto Naegi hovering over me.

I grimaced, rubbing my forehead to ease the pain. "Aren't you supposed to make sure the hallways are a safe environment?"

"I'm so, so sorry Ikusaba-san," said Naegi, offering his hand and helping me to my feet. "Are you alright?"

"I'm ok, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" he asked earnestly.

I tried to lighten up. "Better a door than a fist, right?" He didn't laugh, but continued to look at me with a guilty expression. "I'll be fine, Naegi-kun," I tried my best to reassure him. "The more important question is are you alright, since that's the reason I came to check on you."

"Y-you came to check on me?"

I nodded. "To see how you were doing. Oowada-kun hit you pretty hard."

"Oh! Well I'm doing much better now. Thank you Ikusaba-san. Although my head still hurts a little." He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well at least you're ok. Actually, while you were out the rest of is took it upon ourselves to search the school. We're supposed to be meeting in the cafeteria right about now."

"Oh, I guess we'd better go straight away then. Thank you for letting me know, Ikusaba-san."

"Naturally. It's important for for everyone to show up." It was a short walk to the cafeteria. Everyone was already gathered inside. It seemed that most of the students were making small talk, but the eyes of everyone were on is as we entered the room.

"There she is!" Enoshima exclaimed. "We were just about to start without you guys."

"Well, thank you for waiting for us," I said gratefully.

"Ikusaba-San, it's 10:07. I would've expected better punctuality from the pair of you," said Ishimaru, giving us a disapproving look.

"My apologies for being late, but it can hardly be helped when Naegi was unconscious," I answered patiently.

"It's ok, Naegi-kun! We're just glad that you're alright." Maizono smiled her white, even smile reassuringly at him.

"Thank you, Maizono-san." He was blushing slightly, the one naturally does when greeted by a pretty girl.

"Yeah, uh... Sorry about that earlier, kid. I got carried away," said Mondo gruffly.

"Apology accepted, Oowada-kun. Really, it's fine." Even after being punched so hard that he was knocked out, he still managed to put on his most winning smile. No hard feelings, no indication of any grudge. It was impressive, I'll admit.

"Can we get this meeting started already? Unless you plan on wasting this time with more pointless chatter." It was Togami, of course. "The soon we start the sooner it can end."

"Hey it's not really necessary to be like that, ok?" said Asahina.

"He has a point. I'd actually like to start the meeting as well." Kirigiri finally spoke up. I hadn't even noticed that she was in the room.

"Well how about you go first then, since you're so eager? Tell them about the map you showed me."

"Map? What map?" Togami inquired suspiciously.

Kirigiri pulled out the map from her jacket pocket, glaring at me momentarily, which I pretended to ignore.

"Where did you get this, Kirigiri-san?" asked Naegi. She didn't answer. "Kirigiri-san?" He looked up at her expectantly.

"Don't avoid the question," said Togami, his annoyance apparent.

"Oh, let her be. I mean in the end does it really matter where she got it?" Enoshima rolled her eyes.

"She's right, I mean isn't it just good to have something that's of use?" asked Asahina, looking slightly anxious.

"No matter how useful it may be, if we don't know where it came from then its suspicious," countered Togami.

I decided to chip in my own two cents. "Even so, I don't see a point in fretting over it. It's a map." I felt that it was necessary to defend it, since I was pretty much responsible for getting Kirigiri caught in everyone's crosshairs.

Hagakure laughed. "'Right! Well-said, Ikusaba-chi!"

"Uhhhh... Now that we've got that issue sorted, would it be out of the question to reveal the results of our exploration?" piped up Yamada, adjusting his glasses.

"Oh! Yes, of course!" said Naegi. "As long as Kirigiri-san has concluded with her findings." She nodded. "Excellent. Then would anyone else like to go?"

"I will! Fujisaki-san and I looked through the dorms together!" announced Enoshima.

"There's one designated specifically for every one of us. And they're soundproof as well," said Fujisaki quietly, continuing off Enoshima's train of thought.

"Yup! Fujisaki-san and I tested it out ourselves," said Enoshima, grinning broadly.

Fujisaki looked as if she were in thought. "And... I believe that's all."

"Thank you, Enoshima-san and Fujisaki-san," said Ishimaru. "As for myself, I was with Oowada-kun and Hagakure-kun, and we came across the dry-cleaning room.

"It took three people to find the washroom?" asked Fukawa, sounding skeptical, but she was ignored.

"There's several washing machines and dryers, so we don't have to worry about dry-cleaning," said Hagakure, pleased.

Enoshima snickered. "Lucky for you, right, because you wear like twelve layers of clothing."

"Enoshima-san!" I chastised her in hushed whispers. Thankfully, Hagakure either was blissfully unaware of what she had said, or he just didn't care.

Oogami spoke up. "Asahina, Yamada, and I went to the entrance hall. There we found that the front entrance was blocked by a huge iron door."

Asahina interjected, "Oogami-chan tried her best to bust down the door, but even she couldn't do it!"

Yamada sighed. "It appears as though we are truly stuck in this horrid asylum of a school."

"Well naturally if the mastermind behind the whole ordeal wants to keep us here, simply busting down the door isn't going to happen, even with some of the strongest people in Japan in our company." I tried to end on a more positive note. "Although I commend you for trying, Oogami-san." She nodded in thanks.

Celes smiled. "Well this isn't too bad! We have comfortable living quarters and the kitchen looks well stocked. We should be thankful for what we have instead of worrying about what we cannot change."

"Even with so much food, it will still eventually run out," said Yamada mournfully.

"If we do then you can eat birdseeds," Fukawa hissed scathingly.

He was indignant. "Excuse me? A genius such as myself who is still yet to be recognized should be well nourished!"

Fukawa grumbled under her breath, "B-rate smut author."

"Glorified fanfic writer."

"I've read yaoi's better than your works."

"Your vocabulary is so stunted a third grader can do better."

"Unrealistic and indulgent."

"Cliché and predictable."

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Enoshima interrupted them, stopping the argument before it could escalate, although judging by her expression, she seemed to be enjoying herself tremendously.

"Besides, you guys," said Maizono, still looking slightly anxious over what had just taken place. "We don't have to worry. The kitchen is restocked every day. Monobear told us."

"You saw him?" asked Fujisaki in surprise.

"Yup." Kuwata grimaced. "Popped up outta nowhere and disappeared just as quickly to who knows where."

Oowada clenched his fists, jaw set in anger. "Next time I see that bear, he's gonna get what's coming to him."

"Pardon me, but I would like to bring to your attention that it says in the rules that violence against the 'headmaster' is forbidden." It was Celes, her pleasant formality, no matter what the subject, was unmistakable. "Personally I'm curious to see what the punishment is for breaking one of the rules. What with our unique form of 'graduation', I'm sure its nothing pleasant." She giggled, and I shivered as I felt a chill go up my spine.

For a moment, he seemed to be stunned speechless. At last, he hung his head, embarrassed. "I ain't dying. I mean I'd love to beat the crap out of that monochrome little shit, but... I made a promise to my big brother a while back."

"What does that have to do with anything?" cried Fukawa hysterically.

"Yeah, Oowada-kun, what gives?" asked Enoshima.

"It means I have promises that I still intend to keep. So there's no way in hell I'm dying."

Celestia's smile never faltered. "So then I'm presuming we'll have your cooperation when it comes to compliance with the rules?"

He nodded, his calm demeanor was strange compared to his typical chaotic rage.

"Now that we've come to the conclusion they punching our way through all of our problems is obviously not the way to go, are we quite done already?"

"Says the computer geek who can't hold a conversation to save his life," deadpanned Enoshima. "Hey, are those headphones around your neck? Tell me, Togami-kun, what exactly are they hooked up to? Because my own phone's gone, so you may just want to check your pockets." She smirked at him while everyone at hearing those words began rummaging around frantically for their own devices, and there were several cries of shock when they realized that, yes, they were indeed missing. I checked my own pockets as well and found them to be empty just like with everyone else.

Togami's expression did not change, but I could have sworn that he went slightly ashen as Enoshima's statement. Enoshima, obviously still not satisfied, continued. "Anyways, what's the rush? Why so eager to leave? Don't tell me you've got some prior commitment. 'Cause even disregarding the fact that we're stuck in this mess, I find that pretty hard to believe. Unless its something along the lines of 'keyboarders anonymous."

Togami didn't go completely red, but the pink tinge on his pale skin was enough to convey his embarrassment. He said nothing.

"Actually, Enoshima-san does have a point. We aren't finished. Fukawa-san, Celes-san, what have the two of you been doing for an hour?" I was surprised to hear Kirigiri's voice again after she had spent so long in silence.

"Actually, we stayed in the gymnasium the entire time." Celes looked considerably less cheerful than she had been before.

"Huh? You seriously stayed there the entire time?" asked Enoshima, incredulous.

"Well nobody asked me if I wanted to go with them!" Fukawa seemed to be getting herself worked up.

"Fukawa-chan, you could have just asked someone yourself if you wanted to come along," said Asahina, trying to appeal to reason.

"To be perfectly honest, the whole 'exploring' thing is not exactly my cup of tea." Celes sighed.

"Very well." Kirigiri shifted her gaze over to where Togami was standing. "And you, Togami-kun?"

Togami, who by this time seemed to have recovered from Junko's mockery, answered, "I found nothing." He seems completely apathetic, perhaps due to feeling shut down after Enoshima.

"Nothing?" Her piercing eyes were fixated on him, one eyebrow raised questioningly, but he kept his eyes averted.

"If I had found anything worth reporting, I would have said something earlier." His irritation was apparent in his voice.

She nodded and shrugged. Perhaps it was my imagination, but for a moment I thought I recognized the barest traces of of a smile cross her lips. And then I blinked, and it was gone, as if it had never existed.

The loud ringing of a school bell echoed throughout the room. "Ahem." I heard a familiar voice. Looking around to find the source, I saw that the monitor on the wall was now on and displaying on the screen was Monobear. "Attention. It is 10 P.M. Night Time is now I'm effect. The cafeteria will be closing momentarily." And with that, the screen went blank.

The room was quiet for a moment. The first person to speak up was kirigiri. "Seem's like its about time we that we wrap this up then."

"Oh! Uh, yes," said Naegi. "Does anyone else have anything else they would like to add before we do?"

"One last thing." It was Celes. "The announcement reminded me. I would like to propose a rule for Night Time. Nobody leaves their dorms during those hours. Personally I'd like to be able to sleep without having to worry about murder."

"Its... a good idea, but unfortunately we have no way to really enforce it," said Naegi thoughtfully. "But we should give it a try."

"Its just that... I have this premonition that the first murder will be during the Night Time, and I'd like to avoid that as much as possible." Her somber attitude felt strange in opposition to her usual eerie cheerfulness.

"Don't worry Celes-chi, I'm sure nothing of the sort will happen!" Celes ignored Hagakure's efforts to cheer her up.

She sighed. "We'll see."

And on that ominous note, the meeting concluded and the sixteen of us parted ways.


	3. Chapter 1 Part 2

**Note**: Guess who gon' die

* * *

Chapter 1.2: Can We Go Gift Shopping

"So tell me about yourself!" Enoshima prompted me over breakfast. We were sitting together in the cafeteria with our would-be classmates.

It was all Naegi's idea. The boy had woken up early just to go to each individual's dorm, wake them, greet them good morning, and invite them to breakfast. Personally, Makoto Naegi seeing me in my early morning state was not exactly my idea of a good morning; however, he was insistent that I come down to breakfast with everyone else ("surely you must, Ikuasaba-san!"), despite my futile attempts at refusal, I could hardly say no to the kid.

Enoshima's voice woke me from my reverie and drowsiness. I wasn't particularly a morning person. I shrugged nonchalantly. "What's to tell? I'm sure compared to you my life isn't nearly as exciting." I was feeling a little strange this morning, even from the beginning. Examining myself in the mirror after waking up, I was sure that something was different, even in my state of grogginess (or maybe I was just getting uglier).

"Don't be ridiculous! You're a detective, how is that not exciting? Besides..." She waved her hand carelessly. "My life's already splashed across the tabloids."

I said nothing, keeping my eyes down, fixed on my plate.

"Come on!" she whined. "What've you been up to for the past who-knows-how-many years? Dad almost never talks about you or mom." Her voice was suddenly much quieter. "When she ran off to solve mysteries, taking my only sister with her, I thought I'd never see you again."

Maybe she had lost track, but I knew that "who-knows-how-many-years" was equivalent to almost 10 years. Not that I had kept track for any particular reason. Mom never liked to talk about Dad, or about my twin sister, so I stopped trying to ask. It was like that elephant in the room. That thing that you pretend isn't there even though you know that obviously it is.

"To be fair, I didn't think my baby sister would grow up to be so famous." 10 years is a long time. I smiled, deciding to to oblige her with answers. "If you really want to know, my last case was in Europe. Actually," I said, the memoriesflooding back to me. "Mom wasn't with me that time. I was in... it was this really small country... Novoselic?"

"And Mom? What's she like?" she asked eagerly, eyes wide with interest.

I thought about it for a moment. "Quiet," I finally decided. "Really quiet."

She laughed. I joined in as well, her laughter infectious. It was a strange feeling.

"Fair enough," she said, still laughing. Finally she was able to compose herself. "Dad's the opposite. He's loud, and he talks way too much. He was the one who really pushed me to come here." For a moment, she looked sad. Then the moment passed, and she was back to her usual self. "Well I suppose he had to do something with his life since the 'family business' didn't appeal to him."

I nodded, not taking my eyes off my half-eaten piece of toast. She continued, "The stage name was his idea, too." She paused. "You know... as much as it royally sucks that we're stuck here like this, I'm really glad I got to see you again."

I looked back up at her, surprised at how sincere she seemed. "So am I."

"Let's get out of this place together. You and I. We're gonna get out of that awful place." Her eyes were bright and full of hope.

I nodded. Trying to lighten up from the somber turn the conversation had taken, I said, "The company could take some getting used to, but they're not all that bad." When she didn't answer, I added, "This is some pretty heavy stuff, and I'm not talking about the breakfast."

She snorted.

I yawned, trying not to think about the fact that I would probably still be on bed under normal circumstances.

"Are you alright, Ikusaba-san?" asked Maizono, who sat across from me, right beside Enoshima.

"Oh, I'm fine, just tired is all," I tried to reassure her.

"I'm a little tired myself," she said. If she was, she didn't look it. There was no indication that she was anything but picture perfect, in contrast to my own hooded eyelids and purplish shadows underneath my eyes.

I wished I was a morning person. It'd certainly make my job easier. Black coffee was dubbed in our household as "jet fuel," due to its necessity just to get to early morning cases. Although it was probably something I could stand to live without.

"Did you often have early morning cases?" asked Maizono curiously.

"Every once in a while, which is still more often than I would like, but how did you–"

"I can read minds," she said, with what appeared to be complete seriousness. I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. She giggled. "Kidding! I just have really good intuitions."

Now I wasn't a people person by any means, but I considered myself to be a person good intuitions. It just comes with my area of expertise, more from experience than anything else. But this was a whole new level of "good intuitions." Undoubtably, there was more to Sayaka Maizono than I had initially presumed, and it was absolutely fascinating.

She was wearing a yellow bow in her hair, as opposed to the pink one she had been wearing the previous day. To be honest, she was even prettier in person than she was in the magazines. However, I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about her seemed different.

"Ikusaba-san, why are you staring? I know I don't quite live up to the cover shots, but those things are photoshopped," she said, once again as if she were in tune to my thoughts.

I flushed red with embarrassment, looking away from her and back down at my breakfast plate. I didn't speak for the rest of the meal.

"Mukuro-chan, I'm bored," Enoshima complained. The two of us were in her room. She was lying on her bed while I was standing in front of her bathroom mirror, in sheer awe at the amount off cosmetics she had lined across her bathroom counter.

"Mukuro-chan?" I asked, unsure of what to make of the word. I turned to look at her to see that she was sprawled comically across her unmade bed, her head and her arms dangling over the side, her pigtails so long that they touched the floor.

She slid herself down to the floor. "Yeah, Mukuro-chan. It's ok if I call you Mukuro-chan, right?"

"Yeah that's..." I turned to look away from her and back at my own reflection. "That's fine." I'd never had a nickname before. The idea made me feel oddly happy. I smiled to myself.

"I have a beyond brilliant idea!" I heard Enoshima say from her spot on the floor. In my surprise, I turned to look at her to see that I was mistaken. Rather than laying on the floor, she had popped up off the ground like a daisy. "Let me give you a make-over!"

"What?" I asked, not quite sure exactly what I was hearing. I tried to refuse. "No, no... You don't have to..."

"Yeah!" She was beside me in an instant, holding my hands in hers. "Please, please, please, Mukuro-chan!"

How could I possibly say no?

"Stop fidgeting. You're messing me up."

"I'm sorry, I've never really done this before."

"You're kidding right?" asked Enoshima, her voice skeptical.

I shrugged. "I've always dedicated most of my time to my cases."

"You're moving," she complained. "Close your eyes." I shut my eyes. "No, not like that. Relax." I relaxed, only just realizing that I had been tense.

I felt something swipe across my eyelids. I resisted the urge to pull away from the pencils and brushed that were poking at my face. Every once in a while, Enoshima would swear quietly under her breath which made me a little nervous.

"Can I open my eyes?

"No," said Enoshima firmly. "The liner still has to dry. Now don't move I don't want to mess up your eyebrows."

"Mess up my wha—Ow!" I felt a tug and a sharp pain as a hair at the bottom of my eyebrow was removed.

"Shhhhh, don't talk, or they'll end up crooked," she said, continuing to tweeze away at my eyebrows.

I tried my best to hold still, but every now and then I would wince from the pain. At last, she stopped.

"Can I open my eyes now?" I asked.

"Yeah, go ahead."

I opened my eyes to see Enoshima standing before me, brandishing a small metal tool in her hand.

I jumped back in fright.

She roller her eyes. "Calm down. It's just an eyelash curler."

"A what?"

"An eyelash curler," she said matter-of-factly. "Now hold still."

I shied away from her hand. "You're lying, there is no way that that thing is not some sort of weapon."

She laughed. "You're a riot, Mukuro-chan, really. Now seriously, don't move."

I protested weakly as I felt the little metal curler on my eyelashes. "What does this even do?"

"It's called an eyelash curler. What do you think it does? Other eye now." I sat patiently until Enoshima had finished with the eyelash curler and applied mascara. "You actually have nice eyelashes."

"Thanks I guess?"

"Mhm." She then applied what I assumed to be blush to my cheeks.

"That tickles." I wrinkled my nose.

"I'm nearly finished." She took a step back, looking me up and down. "Alright... Well, there's not much we can do about your hair." She seemed to be talking more to herself than to me. "Maybe if I had a wig I could, but..."

"Wig?" I asked, perplexed.

She shook her head. "Nevermind, forget I said anything." She brushed my hair behind my ears with her finger using a clip to keep it in place.

She took out the earrings I was wearing. "Thank god you have pierced ears because that could have gone horribly wrong," she said, substituting them with another pair.

"You've pierced ears before?" I asked dubiously.

"Nope," she said in a strangely cheerful tone. "Which is why I said it's a good thing yours are already pierced."

From what I could tell, she was implying that she would have pierced them herself. Not that I would ever let an inexperienced fifteen year old girl who I had just met yesterday come anywhere close to my ears, but I said nothing. "Can I see now?" I asked.

"Alright." She smiled gleefully. "Turn around."

I turned to look at myself in the mirror and was completely taken aback by my own appearance.

She did a good job, but it was just strange. Flaws that I didn't really even register that I had were now played down. Just my eyes looked a little brighter, my cheeks a little rosier, my hair framed my face a little better. It didn't feel fake. It was still unmistakably me, just... a little more polished.

"I tried to bring out your eyes. You have such nice eyes." I could see her watching me anxiously for a reaction or response.

"My freckles..." I didn't look at her.

"I didn't want to cover them up. You should show them off!"

I nodded, still not looking at her.

"Oh... You don't like it," she said, sounding disheartened. I shook my head. "So you do like it?"

I nodded.

"Really?"

At last, I turned to look at her. She was grinning ear to ear. "Yes, Enoshima-san. You did a really good job, thank you," I told her with full sincerity.

There was an ecstatic squeal, and before I knew it, her arms were around me. Although this time, she let go almost immediately.

"Sorry, I'm a hugger." She grinned apologetically. "And enough with this Enoshima-san crap. Just called me Junko. Or like... just give me a kickass nickname or something."

I gave a small chuckle before turning to look at myself in the mirror again. Opportunities to allow myself a little vanity were few and far between.

"Hon, you've never looked better." She looked up and down approvingly, as if admiring her own work. "Eyebrow game so strong they can bench press more than Mondo Oowada." I suppressed the urge the laugh.

Something in the mirror caught my eye. I leaned in loser to my reflection, aiming to get a better look at my ears. Upon closer inspection, I was able to discern the shapes of my earrings.

"They're rabbits," I said, surprised.

"Yeah. Cute, huh?" said Enoshima. "Just think of them as a gift from me to you."

"You don't have toJunko-chan, do you really think that's an appropriate joke?" I asked, trying my best to conceal my exasperation.

She ignored the question, but instead took me by the hand and lead me out the door. "You know, I have a funny feeling I'm going to be getting that tone a lot from you."

"You look so pretty! You could be a model!"

"Thank you, Maizono-san."

"Isn't she though? My biggest success to date."

"Junko-chan, please, I'm right here."

"Ikusaba-chi is so cute!"

"Seriously guys I'm standing right here."

"Classic case of 'Beautiful All Along.' If you were fictional you'd be quite something, Ikusaba Mukuro-dono."

"..."

It was perhaps the most awkward situation I've ever been in. And in the past fifteen years of my life I've encountered some pretty awkward scenarios. I pertain it to the fact that I'm probably just not used to fourteen nearly complete strangers giving me compliments. Ok, so all fourteen weren't present in the cafeteria, where Junko decided to go to show of her little "project," which is what she had referred to me as.

She was shameless in her attempts to show me off. I tried my best to be as gracious as possible to everyone who complimented me, despite being rather uncomfortable.

I caught Kirigiri looking at me at one point. I thought she too was going to say something to me, but she stayed silent.

"You look really nice Ikusaba-san."

"Thank you, Naegi-kun."

"I mean, not that you don't always look nice!" he corrected himself. "Because you do! You just look better all fixed up. Not that you need fixing by any means. I mean..." You'd think a hall monitor would be a little better at articulating what they want to say, rather than be a stammering mess.

I laughed, doing my best to conceal it behind my hand, as if that would do any good. Perhaps I was hoping it would spare him a least a little from embarrassment. My cheeks burned slightly, and I was hoping it would be disguised by the blush Junko had applied. I was praying that nobody would notice. Junko must have because was soon as Naegi had left she was immediately beside me.

"I saw that," she said quietly so that only I could here, with a smirk on her face that was making me uncomfortable.

"Saw what?" I asked.

"You know, that."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about Naegi," she said in a voice that implied that it should be completely obvious as to what she was talking about. "I'm totally calling this one. I'm doing it early. Otherwise, I won't get to say 'I told you so', and where's the fun in that?"

I didn't answer. I didn't know how. What even was the proper response to that sort of thing?

It wasn't quite as bad waking up early the next day. I probably should have expected it. Naegi had even said the previous morning that he wanted to turn breakfast with the group into an every day thing, but it didn't make me any less tired. I supposed it was just something I'd have to get used to. That is, if I was correct in assuming Monobear's "good morning" announcement on the monitors would be something we would have the pleasure of waking up to every single morning.

I had looked pretty ghastly waking up that morning, even more so than usual. I had no idea how people managed to do the whole "make up" thing every day. It was actually kind of impressive.

Some of the others had inquired as go why I wasn't made up like yesterday, most with this tone of innocent curiosity that wasn't really convincing. It didn't really bother me. They meant well enough.

I was sitting at a table with Leon, Maizono, and Junko. Junko was preoccupied with conversation with Maizono. Kuwata took this opportunity to attempt at casual conversation with me. I assumed his motives were simply for the purpose of politeness since the other two girls were distracted, and I was silent. "So what's your deal?"

I nearly choked on my breakfast. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, are you like one of silent types who keeps to themselves most of the time? You're all mysterious and crap because you like to keep people guessing?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a yes?" He withered under the look I gave him. "Alright, alright, nevermind. That was a bad question. Let me try again... What sort of music do you like?"

I was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. "What? I... Uh... I'm... not sure really. I don't really have a specific preference. I don't listen to music much."

"What?" He was incredulous. "You're kidding."

I shook my head, poking halfheartedly through my unfinished breakfast with a fork and continuing to eat.

"You're messing with me. Come on, what person doesn't listen to music?"

"Too busy, I guess." I shrugged.

"Not liking music is like... not liking kittens." It was if my apathy towards music was a personal offence against him. It was a little amusing.

"I never said that. Also, I'm a dog person."

He ignored me. "We're going to have to fix that," he mused.

"Cats are fine, but they make me sneeze." It wasn't a lie. Mother and I used to own a kitten when I was much younger, but we had to get rid of it for that reason.

"Not that," he said, dismissing my cat comment with irritation. "You need to be properly educated on good music taste."

"With no phones, iPods, or even Internet connection," I reminded him. "Although you can still give it a try. My sister is a pop sensation after all, so I'd say it's not completely out of the question."

"Well yeah," he said, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

"I heard the phrase 'my sister'," said Junko, surprising us both by interrupting. "What is it? Are you in need of my presence? Or perhaps my angelic singing voice?"

I couldn't even tell if she was serious or not. I suppressed a laugh. "Sorry Junko-chan, Kuwata-kun was just chastising me on my lack of interest in music. Apparently I'm in serious need of a music education."

"Oh, maybe I can help?" she asked, the prospect seemingly catching her interest.

"Unless you can cover all genres and time periods, I don't think so. Although I'm not doubting your range. I'm sure it's very impressive."

Maizono, who I hadn't even realized was listening to our conversation, laughed.

"Kuwata-kun, can I ask you something?"

Somehow, the two of us had ended up in the gift shop together. The fact that it was open at all surprised me, so of course I had to investigate. And by that I meant snatch anything that took my fancy or could hold my interest for a period of time longer than a few seconds. For the most part I was just relieved there was another possible way to occupy my time other than staring at the walls in my dorm or playing guinea pig to Junko's makeovers, which had been appreciated as a one time thing, but I didn't think I could handle more than just on occasion.

When I had entered the shop, it had been empty of any other personnel, but at some point Kuwata must have wandered in without me realizing. We were at opposite ends of the shop. I was near to the counter on the right, by the plush Monobears of all sizes that lined the shelves. I hadn't really planned on saying anything to him. Other than saying hello when I noticed that he, too, was in the room, I was perfectly content with spending the time in silence; however, a question did occur to me that I was rather curious to know the answer to.

"Huh?" He turned away from the shelves of miscellaneous products to look at me. "Yeah, shoot."

"I'm just curious... why would you want to quit swimming?"

He shrugged. "It's boring and stupid, and I just don't like it. You know how when you start out doing something, and it's great because its so much fun, but then you do it all the time, and it starts to feel like work?"

I couldn't truthfully say I really did understand how that felt. I hoisted myself up slightly so that I was sitting on the shop's glass counter. "Well, the other day during our introductions, you were saying something about a singing career before Maizono interrupted."

"Oh, sweet! You actually remembered that." He seemed genuinely pleased which was... nice.

"Yeah, but I mean like..." I reached over and pulled a stuffed Monobear toy off the shelf that was practically life-sized, and held if close, hugging it. I'd probably keep the thing for myself if was wasn't so damn unnerving. "You're this guy that's won a billion swimming tournaments, and you plan on leaving that all behind?"

"Well, anything sounds dumb when you put it like that," he said sullenly. "But I have the vocals for it and everything.

"But aren't you going to compete in the Olympics? That's a pretty huge deal, isn't it?" I couldn't help but ask. Sometimes rumors just weren't enough, hell in my line of business, you can't just accept rumors at face value. I wanted the truth, and who better to ask than the prodigy himself.

He crossed his arms, his expression disgruntled. "Yeah, yeah, I know... You don't think I know that? I've heard it all before?" When I didn't answer he simply kept going. "I mean, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if I actually enjoyed myself. But I just... Don't. Being a musician sounds so much cooler, right? And anyways, girls love musicians."

I said nothing, but allowed myself a small, amused grin.

"You see, there was this girl that I met once at the salon. She was really cute, and she was really into musicians." He just kept talking. The words kept tumbling out, and I didn't have plans to stop him anytime soon. Sometimes I even surprised myself with how far being a listening ear could go. "And like, maybe it is dumb that I'm giving up swimming, maybe it's not, but I should at least give it a shot. I think this is the right decision I'm making. I can feel it!" He seemed so optimistic and self-assured. I wasn't sure whether to just brush this off as a gimmick to receive attention, particularly from girls, or whether he was actually serious in his endeavors, if perhaps a little in over his head.

"Well hopefully, once we get out of this place, you can pursue your goal."

"Hehe, thanks." He grinned. "Y'know, you're a really good listener, Ikusaba.

I uttered a quiet thank you. Not that I was going to say anything, but it was actually a tactic I used sometimes to gather testimonials. People are surprisingly willing to talk to an nonjudgemental party who will listen. People in general just like to talk. Most of them, anyways. There are exceptions, of course.

"Ya know, I've never really had friends who were girls."

I haven't really had any friends, period, I thought. My best friend was probably my mom although that may just have been because we never settled down in one place enough for me to make friends my age. "I don't really see how there's much of a difference between being friends with girls or guys."

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "It's like... Haven't you ever tried to impress a guy?"

"Not really." There was this one boy, back when I was six, but we don't talk about that. Needless to say, I discovered the hard way that investigating dead baby birds for "evidence" was not something that was considered impressive. It was a rather painful experience for myself, even if I ended up choosing the baby bird over him anyways.

My answer surprised him. He raised his eyebrows. "What really?"

I nodded.

He scrutinized me for a moment. "You're a lesbian, aren't you?"

"IHow did you know that?"

"Your roots," I said pointedly. That plus the salon comment, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"They're showing?"

I nodded. "Don't worry about it. Detective here, I'm trained to pick up those minute details."

He didn't seem reassured.

First friend here, and I'd already managed to weird him out. Well, first friend besides Junko, but she was my sister, she didn't count. "Hey listen," I said. "While I was rummaging through here, I saw this Yasu Shishido t-shirt. And you said you liked rock music, so maybe you'd like it?"

"Really?" His face lit up. "Sweet!"

"Here I'll get it." I hopped off the counter, walking over to where the shirt hung, below the bottom left shelf, in the very back. I took it off the rack and handed it to him.

He seemed to really like it. "Thanks, man! This is awesome." With a reaction like that, I was feeling a bit of joy.

He glanced at the stuffed Monobear I was still holding, then at me with a questioning look. "You're not actually gonna keep that thing are you?"

I shook my head. "No, it reminds me too much that we're never really safe from the possibility of impending murder at any given moment, which kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?" I held it up, and we looked at it together. It smiled back at us.

"Maybe of you cover up the right side..." his sentence trailed off before he finished it. He knew exactly how ridiculous that suggestion was.

"Hm... I think it squeaks if you press its stomach."

"Try it."

I did, and just as I thought it would, it emitted loud squeak. I held it out to him. "Want it?"

"Hell no," he said adamantly. "That thing's creepy as hell."

Deciding I'd had enough of the stuffed squeaking facsimile of our tiny monochromatic captor, I put it back on the shelf where it belonged. It made another squeaking noise as it was set down.

"Ikusaba, we're friends now, right?"

"Sure."

"Can you do something for me?"

"... Sure."

"Enoshima is your sister, right?" I could already see in what direction this was going. "What can you tell me about her?"

I shut down. "Kuwata-kun, I only met her yesterday, just like you. Hardly know a thing about her. "

"Nothing?" he asked, slightly disappointed. "At all? Like... What kind of music does she like?"

"Ask her yourself." I was slipping back into my usual reserved self. "Although Junko-chan can sometimes be unpleasant. She hasn't yet towards me, but you saw how she can be." Kuwata was nice, but I didn't like the idea of him hanging around Junko. She was my little sister, after all.

He didn't seem to be discouraged. I didn't know what to make of it. "Anyways, I'm beat. I'm gonna head out of here. See ya, Ikusaba!" And with a smile and a wave, he was gone.

I stood there alone in the school's gift shop. Well at the very least, it looked to me like he had a really good time.

* * *

**Note:** It's a free-time chapter. Its supposed to be filler-y. I am sorry. Just pretend Junko is singing "Popular" during the makeover scene. It made me feel better. Also you guys can have some input as to the next character to get free time development, so please leave a comment.


	4. Chapter 1 Part 3

A/N: I'm not dead, here it is, chapter 1.3. Thank you lovelies for being so patient.

* * *

**Chapter 1.3: The (Almost) Party Crasher**

"May I join you?"

The following afternoon I had entered the cafeteria to see Kirigiri sitting by herself. She didn't speak, but nodded slightly. I say down in the seat opposite her.

I looked around. Many of the other students were in the room as well although I noticed that Junko was not among them.

However, i found that when I returned to the cafeteria later that evening, Junko no longer seemed to be on Kuwata's mind. He and Maizono were sitting at a table, having a cup of tea. They were chatting animatedly with each other.

"—No really, I was bright red for days," said Kuwata, clearly in the middle of a story.

She laughed. "I have the same problem. Can't tan to save my life. Last summer when I came back from vacation all sunburnt and peeling, my poor manager nearly fainted when she saw me."

At a separate table, Hagakure and Celes were sitting together having a conversation. Or more accurately, from what i could pick up from the little I heard, Hagakure was trying to coerce her into reading his fortune, but Celestia was having none of it.

"Come on, Celes-chi."

"No," she said, her tone firm.

"Please?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Well, why not? Just one fortune. It doesn't even have to be a good one." He pouted.

She scoffed. "Do I look like I'm running a charity?"

The corners of my mouth twitched in an small smile. Kirigiri made no attempt at conversation, but instead sat silently in her seat.

"How are you Kirigiri-san?"

"I'm fine," she said briefly, not looking up at me.

She didn't elaborate any further, so I continued. "Been having fun?" I asked, more as attempt at humor than a genuine question.

She stopped looking down at the table and up at me questioningly.

I smiled. "Yeah me neither."

Just then, Junko walked into the room, in what appeared to be deep conversation with Asahina and Oogami.

"-Yeah, I know what you mean, but my arms get so flabby, I just can't build muscle there."

"Weight training, it works miracles. Trust me."

"I've been trying to eat healthier, too, although I can't stand it. My manager insists though because I'm I need to be able to 'run around the stage' or some-" she must have caught me looking at her because she paused mid-sentence when she spotted me. "Hey, big sis!" She waved, sauntering over to me, Asahina and Oogami sitting down at one of the many other tables.

"Makin' friends?" she asked.

"Mhm." I looked up at Junko, who was standing beside the table, and back at Kirigiri.

"Actually, I was just leaving," said Kirigiri.

"Aw no, don't go!" said Junko, sounding genuinely disappointed.

Kirigiri sighed, but she remained where she was.

Junko pulled up a chair, turning it around so that its back was facing the table, and sat down with us. "So what are you ladies talkin' about?"

"Um... Nothing actually," I admitted.

"How boring." Not knowing how to respond to that, I didn't answer. She nudged me with her elbow. "I saw you and Kuwata-kun together in the gift shop. What was that about?"

"What?" I asked, confused at the sudden change of topic.

"I mean, are you guys talking or what? Come on, spill," she pried.

"You know I'm not much of a conversationalist, Junko-chan."

She shoved me in annoyance, although it was too light to really be anything other than playful. "Oh, you know what I mean."

I hesitated momentarily before giving her a playful shove in return. Gently though. "Actually, he was asking me about you," I confessed.

Her eyes for a moment widened in surprise, but they then narrowed, her eyebrows raised and jaw set. "What?"

"Mhm." I shrugged, not quite sure why she seemed so pissed off. "Seems to have a thing for musicians. Wants to be one himself."

Junko didn't seem like she was listening. She gritted her teeth. "Son of a bitch," she hissed quietly to herself. She shook her head. "Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I told myself I wasn't getting involved with musicians any more. I am d-o-n-e, done with them."

"How come?" I asked, intrigued.

"Too much baggage," she explained.

"But you're a musician," I said, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

"My point."

Realizing that was probably the best answer I would get, I glanced over at Kirigiri who seemed to be paying no mind to us and was deliberately concentrating on her twiddling thumbs.

Junko was seething. "I'm gonna slap the dye right out his hair."

"So I'm not the only one who noticed."

She rolled her eyes. "Please, I can spot a bottle-job from 20 meters."

"Shit, and they call me the super high school level detective." I grinned.

"Hey, maybe I can be your assistant!" she suggested eagerly.

At least she was no longer mad. "Heh, maybe... Hopefully it won't come to that though."

"Hey, who says we need a murder in order to do any investigating?" She partially covered up her face with her hand, her first two fingers and her thumb sticking out and the other two tucked away so that her eyes were still visible. "Elementary, my dear Watson." She spoke in a serene, serious voice.

"Uh, Junko-chan?"

She continued in her mysterious voice. "After brief analyzation, I've come to the conclusion that you're a B average student, wear a size seven shoe, your favorite color is purple, and you have one really awesome younger sibling. It's obvious isn't it?"

"Seven and a half, but nice try, detective Enoshima."

She maintained her collected poise. "I could get used to this."

"Well don't get too comfortable. If you steal my title, I'm pretty much screwed. I can't sing half as good as you."

"Do I look cool?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"The coolest," I told her. "Although I don't usually do the hand thing. That's new."

"It's my signature. I like being a detective. Makes me feel cool."

"Being a detective makes me feel cool, too."

She directed her attention towards Kirigiri. "Let's see... If I had to guess, I'd say you're a runaway with some severe daddy issues."

Kirigiri went pale, then bright red. The last thing I expected was for Junko to be right on the money.

"Junko-chan!" I scolded her. "Are you alright Kirigiri-san?"

Her only response was to nod slowly, but she seemed to have composed herself by then.

"I'm sorry Kirigiri-san, Junko-chan's mouth doesn't always have a filter," I said.

"Hey, I resent that!" said Junko indignantly, breaking the facade.

"It's alright," answered Kirigiri, not addressing Junko but myself. "It seems to be a family trait." I knew she was referring to the incident the previous day concerning the map. I held my tongue; regardless, I was too embarrassed to even know what to say anyways.

The sound of loud voices and footsteps alerted us the the fact Yamada and Fukawa had just entered the room. They were in the middle of a very loud, very heated discussion which was somewhat surprising, considering the fact that Fukawa rarely was one to start conversation. Not to mention her attitude wasn't exactly the most inviting. She wasn't exactly what one would call approachable. Nevertheless, there they were, each with an expression of irritation that mirrored the others.

"—And so we can obviously conclude that the author's 'Word of God' is the most valid interpretation of a boy of work," said Yamada haughtily.

"Yes, b-but even if you are the creator, once you put your work out in the world for people to see, people are g-going to interpret that however they may based on their own experiences, and those interpretations are just as valid as—"  
"I'm not saying that those perspectives are worthless. You don't publish and sell your own original works, you wouldn't understand. To have your characters wildly misinterpreted; well that should be a crime in and of itself!"

"Euggggghhhhh... W-what is there to misinterpret?" I noticed that her stutter was less frequent when she was riled up although it was also more pronounced. "They're all one dimensional wish fulfillment fantasies."

"Hmph! You're one to talk about wish fulfillment fantasies."

"What's that supposed to mean? That j-just because I like doujin or write fanf-fics that I'm trash? That is what you're implying, isn't it?" She pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"The only point I was trying to make is that author's intent is the truest form of interpretation."

"You're completely wrong. Author's claims don't completely i-invalidate fan interpretation. There's s-some worth in that, otherwise why would fanfiction be a thing? Ugh." She made a noise of frustration. "D-don't answer that. I can't believe I'm wasting my time. This is all, a joke to you isn't it? You're laughing at me, aren't you? Don't lie, I kn-know you are."

If I were to make a guess, I'd say that her talent was a development of the desire to have her voice be heard by the world in some way. She was bound to feel pretty isolated, whether she truly was or not. Not that I was any sort of expert or anything.

"Bad childhood?" Junko asked me, looking over at the pair of them who were still arguing. She had reverted back to her mysterious persona.

I nodded. "Oh definitely."

"Which I'm guessing resulted in a desperate craving for positive attention and praise."

I gave her a mocking suspicious look. "You sure you're not out for my job?"

She giggled. "No, but I do like to think that I'm a pretty good people person, that's all."

Just then I heard my name. "Ikusaba Mukuro-dono! You will back me up in what I am trying to say, won't you?" Before I could answer, the two of them were already heading in the direction of our little table.

"What? I... No... I mean.. Are you sure wouldn't rather get the opinion of someone who is more well-read than myself?"

"No, w-why are you asking her? Are you still trying to prove how wrong I am?"  
"Nonsense Ikusaba Mukuro-dono!" He turned to Fukawa. "She is clearly a human being with some intelligence."

Her voice went up higher and higher in octaves the more indignant she became. "So that's it then! I'm wrong, just like always!"

I tried to pacify her. "Nobody is saying that you are wrong, Fukawa-san—"

She ignored me. "Ohhhhh, just go away porky. I'm convinced this whole non-conversation was just a set-up so that you could make fun of me."

"Porky!" He cried. "You take jabs at my appearance without knowing the pages true content! This 'porky' individual happens to be the one of the most brilliant young minds of our day and age!"

"Yeah, I mean vanity is great and all, but nothing beats good old-fashioned egotism, right?" said Junko.

I snorted.

Without warning, Junko stood up from her chair. "I'm hungry. Come with me to the kitchen, will you?" she said hurriedly to me.

"Oh, alright." We went over to the kitchen, subsequently leaving Kirigiri sitting at the table by herself, aside from the two arguing newcomers whom she seemed to be trying very hard to ignore.

First thing I noticed when I entered the room was Fujisaki standing in front of the open fridge. She smiled and waved when she saw us come in which we reciprocated.

"I'm not actually that hungry," Junko confessed to me in a low voice. "I just needed to get out of there." On the table there was a pile of dark red apples among the even larger stash of various fruits and vegetables, from which Junko picked the top one and offered it out to me. "Want one?"

I took it from her hesitantly and looked at it. It was red and shiny, almost like something you would see in an advertisement. I didn't eat it though, not yet. "Where do you think all this food is coming from?" I asked, still examining the red fruit in my hands.

"Hm?" said Junko, her mouth full of apple. Presumably she had taken another one for herself and had just bitten into it.

"Where do you think Monobear is getting all this food?" I repeated. "It all seems fresh."

She shrugged, taking another bite of her apple.

"Actually, I had been wondering that myself," said Fujisaki from behind us. I turned to face her. She was no longer by the fridge but standing just behind us. "I mean you can't just save fresh fruit forever. He must be keeping it somewhere."

"You'd think if he was planning to keep us here for a while, the food would be more along the lines of dried or canned food," I said.

"Canned food?" asked Fujisaki.

"Oh my god," said Junko, coughing and nearly choking on her apple. "Don't tell me you don't know what canned food is."

"I... I know what it is," she said, perhaps a little too defensively. "I've just never had any before."

"Don't worry, you're not missing out on much," said Junko, still munching away. "Unless you want to experience the authentic feeling of being dumb and broke firsthand."

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand..."

"Don't worry kiddo, you probably won't have to. Want one?" She held out an apple to Fujisaki. She took it with a quiet "thank you", but didn't eat it. "Alright, well we can't stay in here forever. Poor Kirigiri looked so uncomfortable when we left her there with Yamada and Fukawa." Her words were sympathetic, but she looked as if she were trying not to laugh.

When the three of us went back into the cafeteria, we saw that the group of people in the room had actually grown in size. The first thing I noticed was a very annoyed-looking Kirigiri still sitting at the same table that had been empty save for her just a little while ago but was now filled students having rather loud conversations, the new additions being Naegi, Ishimaru, and Oowada. She and Oowada appeared to be in the middle of a conversation.

"—I fail to see how that's a problem."

"I can't. I won't do it, sorry," said Oowada, holding up his hands in resignation.

"You said you wanted a sparring partner. I want to spar you," said Kirigiri bluntly.

"Hello, Oowada!" said Fujisaki, beaming at him.

He looked up at her. "Hey kid," he said gruffly, but in an almost affectionate way. He turned back to Kirigiri. "Look I'm sorry, I don't fight chicks. I just don't want to hurt ya, ok?"

Junko cut in. "You know she's a trained killer. I don't really think hurting her is that much of an issue." She pulled up a chair from the table next to ours and sat down, with the chair facing backwards like before. She looked around. "Holy shit. Is everyone here? Did you guys invite everyone so that you could throw a party without me?"

"Hello, Kirigiri-san."

She glared up at me from her seat, presumably blaming me for the large group of people at the table.

"Actually," mused Junko, who appeared to be talking to herself. "... That's not a bad idea. 1, 2, 3, 4..." She did was appeared to be a quick count of the people I'm the room. "15. Who's missing? Togami? Ah well, who needs him anyways."

"I don't like where this is going..." said Naegi, sounding uneasy.

"Come on, Mukuro-chan. Back me up here!" Junko pleaded, tugging on my arm.

"For what?"

"Weren't you listening? We should have a party!"

"A party?"

"Yes! Come on, it'll be great. Its a fantastic idea, right Naegi-kun?"

"Well... It would be a good way for everyone to get to know each other," he said although he still sounded uncertain.

"Exactly!"

"Wait, I didn't necessarily—"

She ignored him, having already gotten the nod of approval from him, at least in her mind. "Guys, what do you think of having a party?" she called out to the rest of the room.

"Ooohhh, that sounds perfect actually."

"Splendid! Ha ha ha, how very festive!"

"Hell yeah, what's the occasion?"

"Eugggghhhhh..."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Right, so we're gonna have to organize this damn thing first. Oh, I'm so excited! It's just so unfortunate that I'm not gonna be able to pull out all the stops, what with our limited resources."

The sound of static was heard from the speakers on the wall and with out warning the monitors flickered on to the display of Monobear's face. Everybody turned to face the small screen on the cafeteria wall

Junko groaned. "Ugh... Not you again. Go Away."

"No can do, princess. There's been a lot less killing than I had been hoping for, and I'm not happy."

"Princess?" she cried.

Naegi spoke up, directing his voice toward the monitor. His expression was cross. "Well if you were hoping for a bloodbath, you can forget it. Nobody here is killing anyone."

The bear shook his head in disappointment. "I don't understand what went wrong. I've got the setting, circumstances, weapons, participants... Oh that's right, motives! How could I have been so foolish as to forget?"

"Motives?" asked Asahina, sounding uneasy.

"Of course! Even with everything properly set up, people always need a catalyst. Why don't you all head over to the video room? I've got a special gift for each and every one of you." His grin, forever plastered on the creatures face, seemed even more mischievous and prominent than usual.

"Seriously? You don't even let me have my fun before you ruin everything with your creepy gifts and crap about 'motives'?" She was less anxious and worried like the rest of the students than she was simply disgusted and very put out, as if she had been punished by a parent rather than arguing with our captor who was trying to instigate murder.

Monobear didn't answer. The screen went blank, which left the fifteen of us alone in the cafeteria, giving each other nervous looks. Nobody was sitting anymore, the mere sight of Monobear must have been enough to make everybody rise to their feet.

"So... Should we just stay here, or..." Asahina's voice trailed off, her question hanging in the air.

"I think we should just go," said Kirigiri rationally. "Rather than to question it or wait and see what will happen if we don't."

On a personal note, I was rather curious to see what the motives were, even if going seemed rather risky.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. The first one to break it was Maizono. "I don't want to go. I have a bad feeling about this," she said, her voice quavering.

"Well, at some point everyone's curiosity will be too great, and I'd rather we all just go together so that there are no secrets. Everyone just knows. At this point it seems easier to just comply since we don't know what the alternative is," said Celes coolly.

"We should have more trust than that," insisted Naegi. He raised his voice so that everyone could hear him. "I would like to believe that nobody here would ever kill somebody. No matter what Monobear throws at us, we must not give up."

The video room was not hard to find since it was right next to the entrance hall and the gift shop, and the dark green walls were strangely eerie combined with the poor lighting although it could have just been the nervous atmosphere. In the end, we had all decided to go. Even Togami, who hadn't even been in the cafeteria with the rest of us when the monitors had come on although he looked about as pleased as ever to be in our mixed company.

"T-Togami-kun, you're here!" stuttered Fukawa in surprise.

"Of course he is, Togami-kun wouldn't want to miss anything involving technology," said Junko.

He ignored her. "I wouldn't want to fall behind in the game."

Asahina glared at him. "It's disgusting how you can call this a game."

"Nevermind," said Kirigiri. "Let's just see what this is about." She opened the door and went inside, the rest of us following suit.

The room was even more dimly lit than the hallway, with at least sixteen stations where monitors were set up, along with one large screen at the front of the room. At the closest station, there was a small cardboard box. Inside was a stack of DVDs, each one had a name—one of our names—scrawled on it in what appeared to be marker. I selected the one with my name on it and sat down at one of the monitors, as did the rest of my classmates.

I put the disk in the slot, pressed the power button, put on the pair of headphones that was sitting at the desk, and waited anxiously.

As soon as the monitor came on, the image that was present on screen was one of my mother.

_What is this?_ I thought. She was smiling at me from her seat in the worn-in armchair that sat in the tiny living room of our tiny, cramped, old, shoebox of an apartment. I could see the drab window curtains hanging in the background, the ones I had always hated.

"Hello, dear." Her familiar voice, although altered slightly throughout the speaker, was soft and comforting as usual, but perhaps it was more noticeable due to the fact that I may have been just a touch homesick. Hell, her presence alone was comforting, despite the fact that I knew it was only a recording.

I could feel my eyes watering. "Hi, mom," I answered back, unable to help myself, my voice breaking.

"Have a good time at school, honey. I'm proud of you." She actually smiled, the effect reaching her hooded eyes with slight crow's feet that were nearly the same shade of blue as mine. My mother looked much more like me than she did Junko, what with her freckles and black hair, albeit much longer and typically worn in a braid.

A part of me, the more irrational and definitely more homesick part, was hoping in vain that she wouldn't ever leave. The other part of me was wondering when exactly she had filmed this.

The screen went black, flickering back on after a brief moment, but the only thing on the visible was static. Slowly the picture came back, and the image was still of our apartment living room, only something was clearly very wrong.

The apartment—our apartment, the one that was always slightly too dark and too small and was always too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter and always smelled a little like the numerous books that lined the shelves everywhere and was always making a new home for some odd new contraption or tool, the one with the coffee table that was always littered with Mother's work, the one where we could settle down and relax together when one or both of us came home from a case, the one that had finally started to feel like home after years of moving from place to place—was completely trashed.

The room was dark, the lamps broken, the window shattered, the curtain mangled and torn, the contents of the coffee table all over the floor. The old armchair had been turned on its side. But the worst part, was that my mother was nowhere to be seen.

I couldn't speak, all I could do was stare, transfixed, at the screen in horror. I could hear through my headphones several cries from the other students, the panic in their voices mirroring my own emotions.

Words flashed across the screen in big bold letters. "World-class detective gone missing without a trace! Are you ready to solve this mystery, super high school level detective? Will Detective Ikusaba ever reunite with her daughter? Find out after GRADUATION!"

The monitor went black. "Mom?" Mom! I removed my headphones, still in a state of shock. I could now clearly hear the distress of other students. Looking around the room, everyone looked as panicked as I felt.

_I've got to get out of here._ I shuddered. Had the room always been this cold? _I've got to get out of here. I can't stay. I need to leave._

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "Junko-chan?" I called, standing up. There was no answer. From where I stood, she was nowhere to be seen.

At the monitor beside me was Naegi. His face was ashen and he had this sort of blank, hollow look on his face. I'd never seen him this shaken. In fact, all of my classmates appeared in varying degrees of shaken; from Fukawa's frantic muttering of of "Why this? Why this?", to Oogami's resolute silence and Oowada's anger, to Fujisaki and Ishimaru who seemed to nearly been driven to the point of tears, to Togami and Kirigiri who seemed very unsettled even maintaining their composure.

Just then, I heard the sound of rushed footsteps along with a click and the creaking of an opening door. I turned I'm time to barely see an unmistakeable head of pink hair disappear as it slipped past into the hallway.

"Junko-chan!" I called. I ran after her into the hall. "Junko-chan!"

Looking around the hall, I did not see Junko. The only people in the vicinity were Maizono and Kuwata; Maizono sitting on the floor, hugging her arms to her body and shivering all over, her breathing fast and erratic, Kuwata crouching down in front of her doing his best to comfort her.

"This is so cruel.. Why are we being subjected to this? Kill or be killed?"

"Shhhh... It's ok."

"I c-can't stay here..."

"Maizono, relax. Please—"

"I can't stay."

"You won't. Maizono, please, calm down."

"I-I need to leave, I don't want to die!"

"You're not gonna die. Maizono, Maizono, look at me. Nobody's going to hurt you."

"I don't believe you!"

"Maizono, please. Look at me. Breathe. Just relax, and breathe with me. Good. Listen, I promise you that no harm will come to you, ok?"

Not wanting to appear as though I was eavesdropping, I ducked into the nearest classroom only to find, to my surprise, a familiar figure already standing in the middle of the room, facing away from the door.

I closed the door behind me, it clicking as it closed shut, but if she heard me, she didn't say anything.

I approached her cautiously. "Junko-chan?"

She didn't answer.

"Junko-chan?" I reached out a hand, placing it on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she cried, tearing away from me and fleeing to the far left corner of the room although she was no longer facing away.

I tried to reason with her. "Junko-chan, its me. It's your sister." I approached her again, and this time she stayed where she was although I wouldn't try to touch her again even if in an attempt at comfort.

"I don't want to die," she whispered, barely audible.

"I know."

She was trembling. "Just... Don't leave me, ok?" Before I knew it, her arms were around, and she was hugging me and crying, her body wracked with sobs.

"I won't. I won't, I promise." Not quite sure was to do, I patted her awkwardly on the back.

She sniffed, finally letting go of me and wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," I told her. "Listen, we're going to leave this horrid place. The two of us are going to leave together, I promise. As your big sister, I'm going to keep you safe. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Are you alright, Naegi-kun?" I asked. I had returned to the video room a little later that evening, and the room was empty now, save for the two of us. He was still sitting down at the same monitor as earlier as though he hadn't moved an inch.

"Oh!" He turned in his chair, startled to see me standing behind him. "Sorry, Ikusaba-san, I didn't see you." He smiled although I could see that it was only half-hearted from weary. "I'm... Actually no, I'm not ok."

"It's alright, neither am I." When he didn't answer, I continued cautiously. "What did you see?"

"... My family."

I don't know what compelled me to do it, but I sat down on the floor beside him, sighing. "Me, too. Well, my mother, anyway."

He seemed surprised at my actions, but he sat down next to me on the cold tile floor. "You don't have any family besides your mother?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Not until I met Junko... Do you have any siblings?" I inquired, turning to look at him to see that he was he was looking at me as well with a curious look in his eyes.

"One. My little sister, Komaru."

"And how far would you go to keep her safe? Would you do anything?" I stared at him intently, needing any sign or reassurance that this new feeling of overprotectiveness just came with the perks of being the older sibling.

"Ikusaba-san?"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on killing anyone. I'm going to whatever it takes to keep Junko safe. Anyways, I've seen enough dead bodies in my life."

He sighed, hugging his knees. "Are we ever going to get out of here, Ikusaba-san?"

My gaze strayed away from him. "I don't know."

"I don't know what to do. As a hall monitor, I want to keep everybody safe."

I wasn't quite sure what to say, so I stayed silent.

"Even as scared and desperate to get out of here as I am, I'd never be able to kill anyone. It's hard to believe that somebody else here might be different."

"I learned quite while back that some people have very different agendas and prerogatives."

"I understand," he said, turning to look at me once again. I mean, I would like to be able to trust everyone here, and for everyone to do the same for me. As far as I've seen, the people here are good. I have to believe in that."

I nodded. "I agree. They're all decent kids."

For a while, all we did was sit together in silence on the cold, uncomfortable, speckled tile floor.

"You looked really nice the other day, Ikusaba-san," said Naegi, first to end the silence.

I flushed red, hoping that maybe he wouldn't notice. If he did, he didn't say anything. "Thanks, Naegi-kun."

"During our introductions I was actually kind of intimidated by you," he admitted sheepishly. "But you're actually really cool."

"Intimidated?"

"Yeah, you know, because you seem all serious, and you don't talk much."

"Huh." I furrowed my brow.

"Although I guess the moral of the story is not to take everything at face value," he added.

"Or the moral is not to hit people with doors."

"You make it sound like I did it on purpose." He pouted. "I really am sorry about that, you know."

"It's fine. How about on our way out, you let me hit you with the door so that we're even." I got up from my little spot on the ground and offered out hand to him. "Deal?"

He laughed, taking my hand, and I helped him up. "Deal."


End file.
